President Donald Trump earlier accused the media of making an attempt to downplay the impact of US strikes on enrichment facilities
CIA Director John Ratcliffe has mentioned that it’ll take years for Iran to rebuild its nuclear program following US strikes on uranium enrichment websites. His feedback got here after days of uncertainty concerning the extent of the harm to the services in Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan, which had been focused by American bunker-busting bombs on June 22.
“The CIA can affirm {that a} physique of credible intelligence signifies Iran’s nuclear program has been severely broken by the current, focused strikes,” Ratcliffe mentioned in an announcement on Wednesday.
“This contains new intelligence from a traditionally dependable and correct supply/technique that a number of key Iranian nuclear services had been destroyed and must be rebuilt over the course of years,” he added.
Whereas President Donald Trump and Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth claimed that the strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s capacity to fabricate nuclear weapons, US media later reported that the harm could have been overstated.
Early assessments by the Pentagon’s Protection Intelligence Company (DIA) advised the assault had didn’t destroy the core elements of Iran’s nuclear program and had solely set it again by months, in response to a number of retailers citing sources accustomed to the findings. Israeli officers, nevertheless, instructed Axios that the strikes inflicted “very important” harm.
Trump, for his half, accused US media of making an attempt to “demean” the strikes, which he later in comparison with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki throughout World Battle II.
The US participated in Israel’s bombing marketing campaign, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as an effort to forestall Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Tehran, which denies having a navy nuclear program, has vowed to proceed enriching uranium for analysis and civilian functions. Russia has condemned the strikes and accused the West of spreading disinformation about Iran’s nuclear actions.
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